Ubuntu launches on mobile – but without some key elements

Thursday sees the release of Ubuntu “Saucy Salamander” 13.10, the first version of the Linux distribution to explicitly support smartphones and tablets, as well as desktop PCs and servers. There aren’t any Ubuntu mobile devices on sale yet – London-based sponsor company Canonical hopes these will arrive in 2014 – but there’s a long list of Android(s goog) devices that can be flashed to use it.

However, while this is the first really touch-friendly version of Ubuntu, it’s incomplete in its mobile incarnation. For a start, there are hardly any smartphone or tablet apps for it yet, as is to be expected at this early stage. But there’s a far greater omission: Ubuntu Touch’s ability to run as full-blown desktop Ubuntu when hooked up to an HDMI monitor and Bluetooth keyboard.